58th MUMEI-JUKU(30/09/2021)

Theme: Japan’s digital innovation systems

-Structural Issues for Japanese Firms and Government from the Perspective of Comparative Institutional Analysis of Digital Innovation Systems-

[Excerpts from the comments by Takeda, Head of Mumei-Juku]

Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was chosen yesterday to be the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He will be inaugurated as prime minister at the Diet session on October 4, is the 100th Prime Minister since Hirobumi Ito. Lord Ito took office in 1885, and in the 138 years since then, the average tenure of a prime minister in Japan has been one year and four months (Exceptionally, Abe’s Administration lasted 8 years). On the other hand, George Washington became the first U.S. president in 1789, and in the 232 years since then, the average tenure of a U.S. president has been five years. President Biden is the 47th president of the United States. I hope that the Kishida administration will continue in office for at least as long as the U.S. president has been in office.

At the press conference, Prime Minister Kishida said, “The hearts of the Japanese people have been torn apart by COVID-19. We will immediately begin to repair the damage. Indeed, the rampage of the delta variant has been so fierce that 170,000 people have been infected in Japan, and more than 17,000 people have died. However, on a global scale, the situation in Japan is still better. In the U.S., 43.2 million people have been infected and more than 690,000 people have died. This means that one out of every 500 Americans has died from COVID-19. Even in the United Kingdom, which has a smaller population than Japan, 7.7 million people have been infected and 130,000 people have died, or one in 500 Britons.

We are entering an era where even if the threat of COVID-19 is over, we do not know when a new pandemic will strike. It has become clear that there are many challenges in Japan’s current medical system, quarantine system, and vaccine development. I hope that Prime Minister Kishida will work to rebuild this aspect of Japan’s health care system, but this is not enough to ensure a bright future for Japan. In order to formulate a grand strategy to promote digitalization, the Japanese government and Japanese companies need to properly analyze what they have been lacking so far. At a press conference held at the White House in March, President Biden said, “The future lies with those (countries and companies) that have access to digital technologies such as quantum computing and AI. China is investing overwhelmingly to make that future their own. He emphasized the importance of the US having a digital grand strategy.

Today, I would like to ask Professor Ichikawa of Hitotsubashi University to objectively analyze the digital grand strategy of the Japanese government and corporations to date. Professor Ichikawa joined METI and later studied science and technology policy at MIT, and has been involved in many technology policies. I myself am looking forward to his talk. I also asked Mr. Sugimura, Senior Coordinator of AIST, to serve as the coordinator for today’s session. Mr. Sugimura has given me a lot of advice on the direction of Mumei-Juku in the past. He has also been making efforts internationally in setting standards in AI, cyber, etc., and in creating digital norms.